


Saturday

by SugdenLovesDingle



Series: Flufftober [15]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crushes, Family Bonding, M/M, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:29:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27024322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SugdenLovesDingle/pseuds/SugdenLovesDingle
Summary: Flufftober day 15: Oblivious crushSometimes you need some direct action from an 8 year old.
Relationships: Aaron Dingle/Robert Sugden
Series: Flufftober [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947490
Comments: 5
Kudos: 63





	Saturday

“Love, would you mind taking Eve to her football match?” Chas asked sweetly, letting herself into Aaron’s flat while pushing Eve out in front of her.

“Mum!” Aaron jumped and quickly closed his laptop. “I gave you that key for emergencies! What if I’d had a… a guest?!”

Chas looked around.

“Do you? With your dirty socks all over the place?”

“Well… no… but I could have.”

“But you don’t. So can you take your sister to practise, please? Something’s gone wrong with the brewery order and I really have to go down there to fix it or else I won’t have anything to serve people tonight.”

“Can’t Paddy take her?”

“No, it’s my weekend with her.” Chas explained calmly.

Aaron sighed and looked at his little sister. She looked uncomfortable and unsure of the situation. No doubt she’d gotten stuck in the latest war between her parents again. Even now they were split up, Chas and Paddy were the worst match in the history of the universe and did all they could to make the other’s life difficult.

“Alright. Fine. Give me two minutes to get dressed.” He took pity on her and figured an afternoon of kids football and pizza afterwards would probably do both of them some good. He didn’t really need that lazy pyjama day anyway.

“Thanks love. Don’t take too long though, it starts in an hour and you still have to drive there.”

“I know.” Aaron said and silently cursed his mother and her terrible planning skills. “Two minutes, I promise.” He said to Eve and disappeared into his bedroom.

Within half an hour they were on the road. Eve was quiet at first but cheered up when Aaron let her sit in the front with him and gave her full control of the radio.

“Do you want to go home right after or do you want to hang out with your boring big brother for a bit?” he asked her, even though he already knew the answer.

“Can we get ice cream after?”

“Ice cream?” Aaron quickly glanced sideways at his sister. “It’s way too cold for ice cream! How about pizza?”

“But I like ice cream.”

“Yeah, I do too… but wouldn’t you rather have something warm?”

Eve shook her head.

“I’ll get warm from the football.”

“Yeah, I suppose you will. We’ll talk about it when you’re done ok?”

“Ok…” Eve agreed and turned to look out the window until they were almost at the football club.

“Aaron?”

“That’s me.”

“Can I stay with you tonight? We can have a sleepover.”

“Uh… don’t you want to go home and spend it with mum?”

“Mum is only working and yelling at auntie Charity about dad.”

Aaron sighed.

“I’ll ring mum in a bit and make sure she’s not got anything planned for you. And we’ll stop by the pub to pick up your stuff, alright?”

The girl nodded happily.

“Ok!”

As soon as they reached the club and Aaron parked the car, Eve ran to the changing rooms to meet up with her friends, leaving Aaron to figure out which field they’d be playing on himself.

He found it without too much of a hassle and picked a spot by the fence where he had a good view of the pitch.

About 15 minutes into the game, the cold started to seep through his trainers and he wished he’d put on his work boots to keep his toes warm.

As much as he liked seeing his little sister enjoy herself, he’d definitely overestimated the weather and he was freezing.

“COME ON SEB! YOU CAN DO IT!” Someone yelled next to him. All of the parents were cheering on their kids, but this person was somehow louder than the rest of them combined.

Aaron wondered which kid he was yelling at but none of them reacted.

“Yes! Good lad! Now forward! Quickly! Go, go, go!” 

Aaron looked at the man for a minute. He didn’t seem like the typical football parent, with his expensive looking shoes and coat.

“You do realise they’re only 8, right? They’re not playing for England just yet.”

The man glanced at him.

“What, I can’t cheer on my kid now?”

“I didn’t say that.” Aaron walked over to him. “But you’re acting like they’re about to win the world cup.”

“Call it practise for when they do.” The man grinned and glanced back to the field. “No way! That was a foul! Come on ref! Open your eyes!”

Aaron laughed.

“Well it won’t be lack of dedication on your part if they don’t.”

The man gave him a smile and Aaron’s stomach started doing somersaults.

In the end Eve’s team lost 1-2, and the kids were disappointed.

“Better luck next time. You all did your best.” Aaron put an arm around his sister who nodded.

“Can we go get ice cream now?”

“Sure.”

The next week, Aaron volunteered to take Eve to her game again and hoped to see the blond man again. After what he hoped was some casual questioning, Eve had told him the man was her teammate Seb’s father, mister Sugden.

“Dad doesn’t like him.” She told Aaron.

“Why not? He seems nice.”

Eve shrugged.

“I don’t know.”

She spotted her friends and ran ahead to catch up with them and change into their football gear, while Aaron went to find a place near the pitch to watch the game.

“Back again?” he asked when he saw the man, mister Sugden, sitting on a bench next to the field.

He looked up and smiled when he saw Aaron.

“Yeah, their luck has to change sometime, hasn’t it?”

“I guess you’ll have to shout even louder this week.” Aaron joked.

“Oh no, I’m forbidden from shouting from now on. Apparently I’m embarrassing and distracting.”

“Did the club say that?”

“No, my son.” He said and they both laughed. “I’m Robert by the way. Seb’s dad.” He scooted over to make room for Aaron. “Sit down.”

“Thanks. I’m Aaron. Eve is my little sister.”

“Yeah I figured you weren’t her dad. I’ve met him and I don’t think he likes me very much.”

Aaron bit his lip to stop a grin.

“Yeah… he uh… can be picky.”

They chatted a bit until the game started and this time Eve’s team won 1-0.

The kids all ran around and cheered, happy with their win.

“Looks like all it took for them to win is for you to shut up.” Aaron teased, making Robert laugh.

“Cheers. Way to make a guy feel special.”

“I aim to please.”

Robert shook his head.

“See you next week, Aaron.”

“See ya.” Aaron replied and waved as Robert walked away.

The next few weeks, Aaron’s Saturdays consisted of taking Eve to her football matches and spending most of the game chatting to Robert. He was starting to seriously fall for him, but had no idea if Robert actually liked men. He’d never mentioned a wife or a girlfriend though, so Aaron counted that as a win.

“Coffee?” Robert held up a thermos as Aaron walked up to him one Saturday. “It’s warm. I brought two mugs.”

“Thanks.” Aaron accepted a mug and held it out as Robert poured coffee in it. “I could do with some warmth.” He warmed his hands on the mug.

“Bad day?”

“No, not really. Just didn’t sleep well for some reason.”

“Oh, that sucks.”

Aaron nodded.

“My ex kept calling me. I should just block his number really.” He said and looked at Robert from the corner of his eye to gauge his reaction.

“Does he want to get back together?”

“Yeah… but only when he’s drunk.”

“Charming.”

“Yeah.”

The match started and this time it ended in a tie. Eve was disappointed, and kept repeating that she’d wanted to win.

“You’ll win again next week. I just know it.” Aaron said, steering her to the car and looking over his shoulder to find Robert in the crowd of parents.

Their eyes met and Robert gave him a smile and a nod, as Aaron did the same and waved before he and Eve rounded the corner.

“Do you like Seb’s dad?”

“Yeah, he’s very nice.” Aaron settled on.

“But do you like him? Like a boyfriend?”

“What? No. We’re just mates. Sort of. I don’t even know if he likes boys.”

“Seb says he does. He’s uhm… he likes boy and girls.”

“Bisexual?”

“Yes! That!” She said happily. “You should go on a date with him.”

“I’ll think about it. I don’t know if he will want to go on a date with me.”

“Of course he wants that.” Eve insisted.

The next week neither Robert or Seb were there, and Eve told him after the game that Seb was ill.

“He will be back next week I think.” She told him and Aaron hoped she was right.

It turned out his sister had some amazing powers of premonition and both of them were indeed back the next week.

“Hey stranger. Long time no see.” Aaron joked as he sat down next to Robert on what he’d started to call their bench.

“Seb had the flu, and when he was better, I got it.” Robert explained and handed him a mug of coffee. “I have some biscuits too. Seb stayed with my sister for a few days while I was sick and they baked. A lot.”

Aaron happily accepted the coffee and the biscuit and they fell into their routine of watching the game together while chatting about everything and nothing.

Eve’s team won 3-0 this time. Seb made the first goal, and Eve the second, and for a moment it looked like she was going to score two times in a row, but the ball bounced off one of the posts.

“Well done! I’m so proud of you!” Aaron lifted her up and spun her around. “Let’s go to that new ice cream place in town and get the fancy stuff to celebrate.”

Eve agreed and got changed in record time and followed Aaron to the car park.

It was busy with people coming and going but they spotted Robert and Seb walking towards their own car, which just happened to be parked a few spaces from Aaron’s.

“Good game mate.” Aaron told Seb. “That was a great goal.”

“Thank you.” Seb replied, a massive grin on his face.

“Yeah, he’ll be playing for England before we know it.” Robert said, only half joking. “Future world famous top player right here.”

“Looks like your cheering paid off eh?” Aaron commented.

Robert grinned.

“I’ve still got the magic touch.”

“We uh… were going to get some ice cream to celebrate the win… do you want to tag along?” Aaron asked, trying to sound casual.

“Oh… uhm… sure. We don’t have anything on, right Seb?” Robert asked Seb who shook his head. “If you don’t mind, Eve?”

Eve looked back and forth between her brother and her friend’s dad.

“It’s ok. I don’t mind.”

“Good. Well. Lead the way then.” Robert said and moved to get into his car.

“My brother thinks you’re cute.” Eve called out, making both Robert and Aaron stop in their tracks.

“Eve!” Aaron hissed, feeling his cheeks heat up.

“Really?” Robert smiled, looking at Aaron. “Well… I think he’s pretty cute too.”


End file.
